A Bit of California History Trivia Quiz

Answer: True

It's true. There have been archaeological findings in the Barona area (near San Diego) that have been traced back thousands of years. The Kumeyaay groups, also known as the San Dieguito Paleo-Indians, date back as far back as 10,000 B.C. There are said to have been hundreds of Native American tribes in California alone, and more than 100 languages.

They appear to have lived well, with a friendly climate and a plentiful supply of food. They seem to have lived peacefully with their neighbors and had well-developed societies.

The arrival of the Europeans had a catastrophic effect on them.

Answer: False

Christopher Columbus landed in the eastern area of the Americas. The Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo (Joao Rodrigues Cabrilho) first set foot on California soil on September 28, 1542, and claimed the area for Spain. Sir Francis Drake arrived in the area in 1579, and was the first to explore the California coast and claim it for England. (Of course, California was already inhabited by Native Americans.)

Answer: True

Father Serra has been beatified by the Catholic Church, which puts him on track for sainthood. The California missions, founded by Spain, were established to convert Native Americans to Christianity. They also helped to entrench Spain's presence in California, and the Spanish were then able to introduce European agriculture and ways of living to the New World. Each mission was placed along the King's Highway, or El Camino Real, some 650 miles long, and one could be reached from another in a day's time.

The first mission was founded in San Diego in 1769 by Father Serra. According to many accounts, Serra went the first year without a single convert among the Native Americans.

Answer: military forts

There were four Presidios (or military forts) built by the Spanish at strategic points along the California coast in the late 1700s. Their purpose was the protection of the missions built there and also to protect any residents in the area. Armed with cannons, Spanish soldiers were able to defend settlers and missionaries from attacks by Native Americans as well as from any incursions from the sea.

The forts were built a mile or so inland from the Pacific Ocean, enough to keep them out of range of the cannons of any invader vessels. People increasingly moved closer to the Presidios, where they felt safer, and they eventually became towns, called Presidio-Pueblos.

The four presidio/forts were located in San Diego, Monterrey, San Francisco and Santa Barbara. All twenty-one missions built along El Camino Real still stand today, authentically restored and open to visitors - an interesting part of California's heritage.

Answer: Knott's Berry Farm

Walter Knott was the farmer who began it all by selling boysenberry preserves. Later on his wife began selling chicken dinners in the small restaurant they built. It was a very popular place from the beginning. I remember going there as a child, and there were big crowds of people even then.

The Ghost Town attraction was very popular; Knott used abandoned buildings from real ghost towns from the gold rush days-Calico California was a famous silver mining town that was restored by Knott. Today Knott's Berry Farm is a huge amusement park, with amazing roller coaster and launch coaster rides, and the Ghost Town still stands.

The other three places mentioned here are all popular amusement parks in the Southern California area.

Answer: Hollywoodland

The original sign said "Hollywoodland." The Hollywood sign was first built to promote a choice piece of real estate. Built by Harry Chandler (of the Los Angeles Times' Chandlers), it cost $21,000. The original letters were covered with light bulbs, each letter 30 feet wide and 50 feet high.

As an advertisement, it was supposed to be temporary, and was expected to stand less than two years. After it had become badly deteriorated, it was finally restored, and the "land" was removed in 1949. The wooden letters have since been replaced with metal ones, and the sign is now an official landmark.

Answer: Sonny Bono

He was killed on January 9, 1998. Sonny Bono had been the mayor of Palm Springs before being elected to Congress. He was instrumental in reviving tourism in Palm Springs, which had been in a long decline. George Murphy, Clint Eastwood and Fred Grandy are all actors who went into politics at some point in their lives.

Answer: Hearst Castle

The castle's architect was a woman, something very rare for that time. Her name was Julia Morgan, and she studied architecture in Paris, at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. She faced many obstacles in her pursuit of a career in architecture, but was ultimately quite successful.

She practiced her profession in San Francisco for twenty years before being selected by Hearst to design his grand castle. The castle is amazing; just the sheer size is mind-boggling for a private home. The house has indoor and outdoor swimming pools, 56 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms, over 100 acres of gardens, a private airfield.

It's decorated with massive amounts of art brought from Europe. There are tours of the castle available all year round, and since it's impossible to see the entire site in one day, five different tours are offered.

Hearst entertained the cream of the Hollywood crop and the most powerful politicians when he lived there during the '20s and '30s. The castle is located in San Simeon, California, and is also known as Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument, La Cuesta Encantada, and The Enchanted Hill. Xanadu was the name of the estate of Charles Foster Kane, in the film "Citizen Kane", Orson Welles' film that closely parallels Hearst's life.

Hearst informally referred to his home as "the ranch".

Answer: Scotty's Castle

Death Valley is home to world-famous Scotty's Castle, an amazing blend of ingenuity and beauty. The villa sits in a canyon in the northern area of the park. It's known as Scotty's Castle in honor of the friendship between the owner and builder of the place, Albert Johnson, and his friend Walter Scott, who had a vision of a castle in the desert. Construction began on the home in 1922, which ended up costing around 2 million dollars. Today the National Park Service owns and operates Scotty's Castle, with tours open to visitors year-round.
Death Valley is the site of the lowest elevation in North America. Due to its low elevation, temperatures range from up to 130°F during the summertime, to below freezing during the winter nights. Most of the roads there were built during the '30s. They are generally two-lane roads, with many curves. They should be driven with extreme caution, for the most dangerous thing in Death Valley isn't the high temperatures, it's the car crashes, from people driving too fast.
The Timbisha tribe of Native Americans have lived in Death Valley for over 1000 years, and some Timbisha still live there. There are a couple of small resorts in the area. If you like the desert, Death Valley is the place for you. The other three names are made-up.

Answer: Yes

Nixon was born on January 9, 1913 in Yorba Linda, California. He was the thirty-seventh president of the United States, serving from 1969-1974. He resigned from office in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal. He died on April 22, 1994 in New York. Always controversial, Nixon may be best remembered for Watergate.

But he was the first United States president to visit Communist China, which had been a mystery country to most of the world for decades. He's generally thought of as a president who was an expert in foreign policy.

He was married to the consummate loyal political wife, Patricia Ryan, for over 50 years. She died ten months before him.